India and China have the largest farm‐household populations in the world—populations that are also among the poorest. Among the many factors that affect farm livelihoods, access to credit has been identified as a significant barrier preventing the escape from poverty. While there has been significant research on credit constraints in developing countries, there is surprisingly little information pertaining to the actual impacts of credit constraints on household well‐being. The objective of this paper is to investigate the impacts of credit constraints on various factors affecting farm households, such as physical and human capital formation, agricultural inputs applications, consumption smoothing, and wage‐seeking behavior using direct elicitation. This paper contributes to the literature and policy debates by comparing the effects of credit constraints in China and India as surveyed in 2008–2009. The analytical results and data demonstrate that binding credit constraints adversely affect a broad range of production and livelihood choices. We empirically show that credit constraints negatively affect food consumption, farm input applications, and health and educational attainments.
Purpose -US decoupled direct payments, paid to farm operators based on historic yields and base acreage under the 2002 Farm Bill, may alter a farmer's access to credit or his ability to meet debt servicing obligations. More specifically, direct payments might improve the farmer's liquidity position or repayment capacity enabling the farmer to obtain more favorable credit terms. In turn, more favorable credit terms might allow a farm to remain in business or expand production, leading to current production distortions. Since direct payments are based on historic production, beginning farmers tend to receive lower levels of direct payments and hence these payments might impact beginning farmers differently than more experienced farmers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of direct payments on liquidity and repayment capacity for experienced and beginning farmers. Design/methodology/approach -Given the manner in which direct payments are calculated and administered, it is likely that direct payments affect beginning farmers and more experienced farmers differently; hence the authors analyze the impacts of direct payments on the current and term debt coverage ratios for these two groups separately. In the analysis, the authors control for farm financial characteristics, farm operator characteristics, and other factors. Data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) for the years 2005, 2006, and 2007 were used in the weighted regression analysis and jackknifed standard errors computed. Findings -A positive significant relationship was found between the level of direct payments (in dollars) and the term debt coverage ratio for experienced farmers, suggesting that direct payments improve repayment capacity. However, this relationship is not significant for beginning farmers. Also, a negative significant relationship was found between the number of base acres and the current ratio for experienced farmers, while this relationship lacks significance for beginning farmers. Originality/value -The paper provides evidence that decoupled direct payments impact a farmer's liquidity and repayment capacity. Furthermore, direct payments impact beginning and experienced farmers differently. This paper also contributes to the growing body of research investigating the mechanisms by which decoupled payments have the potential to distort current production.
This study analyzes the constraints affecting agricultural production in the lagging regions of Bangladesh. These regions are lagging in agricultural productivity due to natural phenomena and past government policies. Ten lagging regions, covering eight administrative divisions, were selected for analysis based on crop productivity indicators, percentage of the population in extreme poverty, and agroecological zones. Data were collected from 1257 farm holders using a structured questionnaire. Respondents were mostly older, illiterate males with low levels of education. Production constraints included inadequate supplies of fertilizer and pesticides in local markets. Labor accounted for the highest proportion of agriculture expenditures (51.3%), followed by equipment rental (11.8%), then pesticides (9.3%), and irrigation (8.2%). Only 35.4% of respondents availed credit to purchase agricultural inputs; among them, 85.4% borrowed from formal sources. Lack of proper irrigation facilities, production machinery, and access to institutional credit, difficulties procuring inputs and storing products, and negative impacts of climate were identified as the major constraints to agricultural productivity and marketing in the lagging regions. Access to credit and being adversely affected by weather impacted respondents’ agricultural productivity more than sociodemographic factors.
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